Text Size

With help from David Nather, Jennifer Haberkorn, Joanne Kenen and Kathryn Smith

BERWICK EYEING RUN FOR MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR – Health care pros could be in for the wonkiest showdown of their lives if former CMS Administrator Donald Berwick joins the growing field of Democrats seeking to succeed Gov. Deval Patrick. The former Obama administration Medicare and Medicaid guru confirmed to POLITICO he’s interested in the post, in part because of the political gridlock he witnessed in Washington. That gridlock, he said, opens up opportunities for states to play a constructive role in advancing policy.

--Berwick would be a political newcomer and would likely be pitted against state Treasurer Steven Grossman (a former DNC chairman) and Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, Patrick’s number two since 2007. On the Republican side, former state HHS Secretary Charles Baker, who also previously helmed Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, is eyeing a second bid for the state’s top job. A Massachusetts Democratic official described Berwick as a “long shot,” but the state’s voters have a history of electing outsiders to the governorship, from Patrick to former Gov. Mitt Romney. http://politi.co/XKuOWZ

MAYORS PRESS FOR FEDERAL GUN RESEARCH — Municipal leaders, led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Mayors Against Illegal Guns, are pressing Congress to lift research restrictions on gun-related issues, long backed by Republican lawmakers and the NRA. “Both the Centers for Disease Control and later the National Institutes of Health have faced restrictions on gun-related research,” Pro’s Brett Norman reports. Mayors Against Illegal Guns is also “urging the administration to do away with the so-called Tiahrt amendments, named after former Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.). He was the original sponsor of what became a raft of riders on budget bills that restrict the collection and distribution of crime gun data by DOJ agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”

--“How hard pro-gun legislators would push back against lifting the research and data-gathering restrictions is not clear. Several Republican Congress members contacted for this story either declined to comment or did not respond. The National Rifle Association did not respond to requests for comment, but NRA officials in the past have blasted federally funded gun research as poorly done and biased in favor of greater gun control.” http://politi.co/VOHsPj

Happy Wednesday and welcome to PULSE, where we’re wondering why Massachusetts seems to be the Island of Last Resort for Failed Obama Nominees. First Elizabeth Warren, who couldn’t get confirmed to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau she helped build, returned to Massachusetts and won election to the very Senate that shunned her. Now Don Berwick, who couldn’t get a permanent appointment to head CMS, might run for governor. Wonder if Susan Rice is checking out property…

“Get up, stand up, c’mon throw your hands up, and if you get the feeling, PULSE across the ceiling.”

TODAY ON POLITICO PRO:

--MASS. GOV. PUSHES EMPLOYER MANDATE REFORM – Gov. Deval Patrick wants to roll back coverage requirements on small businesses with 11 to 49 employees to help his state synchronize with the Affordable Care Act. http://politico.pro/10cYayE

--CALIFORNIA INSURER ACCUSED OF ‘UNLAWFUL’ RATE CALCULATION — Anthem Blue Cross California has started factoring ACA fees into its 2013 rates, even though the company won’t start paying them until 2014, the state’s insurance commissioner alleged Tuesday, calling the move “unlawful.” http://politico.pro/Xia5Wn

--MANY STATES LET DEC. 26 BENEFIT DEADLINE SLIP — A post-Christmas deadline for states to choose mandatory benefit packages went by quietly — and about half the states chose not to respond, instead letting HHS choose the packages for them. http://politico.pro/UHnKpp

--UNITEDHEALTH GROUP OFFERS HEALTH SAVINGS PACKAGE — On the heels of a report suggesting record-low health care spending, a major national insurer is offering a tantalizing proposal for policymakers: $542 billion in federal health care savings over the next decade through reforms to Medicare and Medicaid. http://politico.pro/WvIsX5

--HHS PERMITS SOME, NOT ALL, MAINE MEDICAID CUTS – Maine may cut its Medicaid program, the Obama administration announced Tuesday, but not as deeply as Gov. Paul LePage wants, a move that could lead to a legal showdown if the state isn’t satisfied: “CMS allowed Maine to reduce income eligibility levels for certain groups, but the agency cited MOE in its rejection of proposed cuts to parents and 19- and 20-year-olds.” http://politico.pro/10cXxVS

** A message from Hitachi: Hitachi products, services and technologies are at work all around you. These stories will show you where to look. See how the Social Innovation Business works at http://Hitachi.us/innovation/ **

OBAMA THRIVES ON GOP DISARRAY — POLITICO’s Glenn Thrush and Reid Epstein report on President Barack Obama’s newfound proclivity for stoking discord within Republican ranks. “His apparent conclusion, after watching the implosion of the House GOP’s effort to pass a modest tax increase before the final fiscal cliff deal, is that the best way to deal with the Capitol is to throw rocks at it — then send Vice President Joe Biden in to clean up the glass,” the duo reports. And his approach to the debt ceiling talks seems to be consistent: “If the Republicans are suggesting that the answer to the sequester, to the debt ceiling or any other thing, [is] simply to slash benefits for seniors, they ought to say so and they ought to provide a specified plan,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said. “They know that the president won’t accept that.” http://politi.co/VOH8jn

H&R BLOCK ADVERTISING ON THE ACA -- Tax company H&R Block is running commercials touting the health law's impact on taxes this year — and why you need their services, of course. “People don't realize that taxes and health care are connected,” the ad says. “The Affordable Care Act means big changes this year when you file your taxes. I read the whole 900 pages. It literally took me weeks. I will give you a tax and health care review. I know the law. I have the solutions and I can help you figure it out.”

PEW: STATES ARE FAILING ON TOOTH DECAY PREVENTION – A new Pew report grades states on their efforts to prevent tooth decay — and finds that nearly half are falling short. Twenty states and the District of Columbia were found lacking in their work to improve access to dental sealants for low-income children, earning either a D or F on Pew’s A-F grading system. “Children’s health isn’t the only thing that suffers when states don’t invest in sealant programs,” Shelly Gehshan, director of the Pew Children’s Dental Campaign, said in a statement. “States that miss this opportunity to prevent decay are saddling taxpayers with higher costs down the road through Medicaid or other programs.” The Pew report: http://bit.ly/V98DqX

‘DEATH PANELS’ HARD TO SHAKE – Have trouble convincing folks that the health law has no “death panels?” Join the club. Health care researchers from Duke, Dartmouth and Georgia State found that people who like Sarah Palin but don’t know all that much about politics backed off their death panel beliefs when given fact-check materials — but those who like Palin and knew a lot about politics and health reform didn’t change their minds about the death panels when given those same fact-check materials. The study will be published next month in the journal Medical Care but is already online. The study: http://1.usa.gov/Wsa4N4

GME REDISTRIBUTION FAIL -- Are you one of those people who think that redistributing residency positions among the nation’s hospitals can lead to more primary care training? Well, you are just unbelievably wrong. A Health Affairs study published this week, which looked at the redistribution of 3,000 residency slots under the 2003 Medicare law, found that even though there was a bit more primary care training, “the relative growth of non-primary care training was twice as large and diverted would-be primary care physicians to subspecialty training.” Also, there was supposed to be more training in rural areas, but the actual increase was kind of pathetic: Only 12 out of the 304 hospitals that got new positions were in rural areas.

WHAT WE’RE READING, by Jennifer Haberkorn

The public's trust in private health care solutions — and mistrust of government health care -- isn't doing the health industry or consumers any good, Eduardo Porter writes in The New York Times. http://nyti.ms/TK7wwN

The federal government has approved three rate increases — at an average of 6.5 percent — in the small group market for Anthem Blue Cross, Sarah Kliff reports in The Washington Post. http://wapo.st/13hySxg

St. Jude Medical admitted flaws in its Durata defibrillator and promised improvements in a letter to the FDA, The Wall Street Journal reports. ($) http://on.wsj.com/TK9htQ

An Indiana state senator has sponsored a state bill that would try to nullify the federal health reform law and punish anyone trying to implement it in the state, despite years of precedent that states cannot do so, the Northwest Indiana Times reports. http://bit.ly/WLT1pB

Western sanctions in Iran are spurring the return of a black market for medicine, the AP reports. http://wapo.st/10dNEqV

Consumers are pursuing alternatives to traditional health coverage — such as ample supplies of Airborne — as they wait for 2014 to roll around, Reuters reports. http://yhoo.it/13hwmai

** A message from Hitachi: Hitachi is in the Social Innovation Business: contributing to society through the development of superior, original technology — for over 100 years. And today, these innovations affect countless aspects of our daily lives. See how at http://Hitachi.us/innovation/ **